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natalientan

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #195 on: January 26, 2015, 11:36:38 pm »
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Hey, this is a terrible essay (its my second time writing an Eng Lang essay) but if you could mark it, please be as harsh as you can and I'll try not to cry into my pillow ahaha... thanks heaps!

‘Nothing unites a country more than its common language because from a language comes a history and a culture’ (PM John Howard, 2006) Discuss, referring to at least three subsystems.
Australian English has evolved over many years to become what it is today. It has been through many years of influence from different cultures and traditions to bring about the new lexemes, idioms and phrases as well as the distinctive pronunciation of lexemes that we now use in our everyday lives. The Australian accent is primarily caused by elision in our speech and has roots to its origins - British English. Australians have developed our own lexemes which follow the standard morphological patterns to suit our needs and which reflect our unique culture. Australian historic events have resulted in addition of new lexemes from the languages of cultures and tribes which were involved. In addition, Australian idioms and phrases have their own exclusive semantics that no other country or variation of English subscribes to. Through our common language, Australians have established a foundation in which we are able to communicate effectively and without intermediaries.
   Phonologically, Australian English is one of the world’s most regionally homogenous varieties of English. It is considered a non-rhotic variety of English, which means Australian English speakers do not pronounce the written letter “r” unless it is followed by a vowel. This could be due to the fact that Australia’s white colony was established only after the /r/ loss in Southern British English was fully developed. Elision of consonants like /l/ are common, for example, Australia becomes “Austray’a”. The initial voiced alveolar /l/ requires the tongue to be closed (to the roof of the mouth) and raised however, in the example “Austray’a”, the tongue is lowered whilst still maintaining the rounded lips. Flapping of the /t/ sound is often pronounced as a /d/ such as “water” which is spoken as “wader”. The High Rising Terminal (HRT) is typical as Australian teenagers tend to have a rising intonation, pitch and stress at the end of declarative sentences. Possible explanations for this phenomenon is that this is used to invite audience participation and seek empathy, however, these sentences are commonly mistaken as interrogative sentences. These developments have occurred as a function of time to suit our needs today. In addition, our speech has become more monotonous as Australians have habitualised a ‘lazy’ habit in the way our tongue and mouth move to pronounce lexemes.
   Australians have our own register of lexemes which can be found in traditional songs, on television and conversations on the streets. Many of these lexemes are borrowed from the Aboriginal language of Australia especially content words like “koala”, “boomerang” and “billabong”, however there are also some colloquial terms that have been added into the Australian English lexicon for example, “yakka” (work, for example hard yakka = hard work). Originally, some of these new lexemes were restricted to Australian English, however, they are now being used universally (e.g “kangaroo”). Australians have borrowed these lexemes to facilitate the labelling and naming of new objects and places that they have come across on the new land. Diminutives, which in this case is the back clipping (shortening) and suffixation of –y/-ie/-o, are a unique feature of Australian English. Examples of popular lexemes commonly used in Australia are “bikkie” (biscuits) and “ambo” (ambulance). However, there are a few exceptions to this common rule of thumb like “Maccas” (McDonalds). Using the diminutive forms of lexemes in casual and informal conversations lend it a more jocular tone as well as simplifying the complexity of a lexeme by shortening the phonology which mirrors the laid back culture and friendliness of Australians.
   The semantic features of Australian English are a reflection of the importance we place on our tradition and values. Connotative meanings of these phrases, idioms and metaphors are crucial as they are context dependent. Idioms such as “fair dinkum” (true or genuine) and “fair go” (used for emphasis or to request someone to be reasonable or fair), which are used by politicians as well as everyday Australians, emphasize the pride that Australians take in having a just society. This idiom carries some historic relevance to our country as “dinkum”, which means “work”, is etymologically linked to a British dialect. The “Aussie salute” (brushing away flies with a hand) is a regular occurrence especially in summer due to the abundance of flies. Non-Australians would not understand the reference as they do not share a similar experience. Likewise, the term “banana bender” is an alternate name for a resident of Queensland, Australia. This is a teasing and playful term as bananas are grown in Queensland and the social context of it is that Queenslanders have nothing better to do so they bend bananas. (the green bit is really awkward but I'm not sure how to improve it...) Semantic shifts can be observed in some individual lexemes for example, “dag” which originally meant “an entertaining eccentric person” has now shifted to become “an unfashionable person” or even “a nerd”.
   Australian English is one of many great examples that a common language is more than just a means of communication – it encapsulates the essence of the Australian spirit and is knee deep in historic evidence through the phonetic variations from Standard English, creation and introduction of new lexemes as well as the distinctive semantic features. Australian English “helped to mark their identity and was a source of pride” after all.

Thanks! :)
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Nguyensanity

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #196 on: February 14, 2015, 11:41:39 pm »
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Hi Nguyensanity,

I know this is repeatedly stressed but you do need to make an effort to include at least a few linguist quotes into your essay. Your examples are good (Ian Rose one was interesting) and your links to the topic are also relevant. However, some pretty substantial points you make 'teenspeak has rendered SAE a static construct that is unable to keep up with the amorphous linguistic boundaries within generational realms...' should definitely be backed up with some sort of evidence other than examples. A relevant quote might be 'language is constantly changing and this is a part of the evolutionary process' (Bruce Moore).

In addition, your first paragraph on Australian identity is a great paragraph overall. You could link Americanisms to shifting cultural attitudes and the media landscape, which then inherently links to the volatile nature of teenspeak. Your second paragraph is also well-written but it can definitely be made stronger through the addition of some linguist quotes. Your examples are recent, relevant, and utilises sophisticated metalanguage. You might want to shift your focus from memorising overly-convoluted words such as 'recalcitrance' and 'demarcate' and instead memorise some relevant teenspeak or language change quotes. Furthermore, your last paragraph is definitely weak. It focuses on only one example from the niche-communication sphere, an example from 1972 as well. VCAA has placed an emphasis on more contemporary examples and whilst I understand it relates directly to your point of 'communication is vital for aviation', you need to remember that the topic asks you to talk about the relevance of SAE in Australia today! You may want to avoid implementing this paragraph into your actual essay tomorrow as it is definitely your weakest one.

All in all a solid essay but the last paragraph didn't really address the question. Your paragraph focused on the function of language rather than specific SAE features and you should take care in planning your essay tomorrow to ensure you actually address the prompt.

12-13/15 (Closer to 13)

Best of luck for tomorrow!

Ended up getting 13/15 on my exam for the essay :P
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odeaa

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #197 on: May 04, 2015, 09:33:45 pm »
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This thread is a bit dead, but I thought I'd chuck an essay in here to get another opinion.
This is my first essay for the year so I'm just trying to find my feet a bit
Thanks in advance, any advice is much appreciated!

‘But perhaps the phrase Paltrow and Martin unleashed this week is simply the latest in the long line of words and phrases we have all used to soften the blow of private, painful events. ''He passed away.' ''It's not you, it's me.'' 'We're having time apart.'  Rejection, loss and unhappiness are hard enough to go through. For many, gentle words can ease the experience.’   (Josephine Tovey, Conscious uncoupling: Gwyneth Paltrow's split from Chris Martin, The Sydney Morning Herald)

As the unpopular shark bait and shoot program continues in Western Australia, fisheries minister Troy Buswell has defended the policy, saying that it isn’t a cull, but a ‘localised shark mitigation strategy’…. Buswell learned the art of political euphemism from the best. (Lochlan Morrissey, Fully (sic))

‘Extra-Visibilty or Emphasis on Difference: in many contexts, it is quite unnecessary to mention a person’s sex, race, ethnic background or other characteristics, yet such characteristics are often mentioned even at the expense of information that would have been more relevant to the context.  This is particularly true for members of minority groups.  Unnecessary references of this nature should be avoided.’  (‘Inclusive Language Policy’, University of Western Sydney.)   

‘Jargon facilitates communication on one hand, but erects quite successful communication barriers on the other.’ (Kate Burridge)

‘Formal language features are always helpful and appropriate. They ensure social harmony and precise, straightforward communication at all times.’  Do you agree?


Formal language choices play an important part in establishing courteous, polite relationships in society. Politically correct language and euphemisms allow users to avoid offense and navigate around taboo topics. Similarly, politeness strategies assist one in maintaining a negative face therefore uphold social harmony. However, it is a vast overstatement to say that these features are always helpful. When used outside its intended domain, jargon is anything but appropriate, as a specific lexicon can ostracise outsiders. Furthermore, when euphemisms are misused to obfuscate the truth through doublespeak, they completely prevent straightforward communication.

While jargon does allow for precision and straightforward communication, it is not always used appropriately, and therefore is not always helpful. Jargon is only effective when used in a relative domain, and in some cases cannot be avoided. For example, Mary O’Callaghan pointed out the need for subject specific lexemes in cricket. Without noun phrases such as “silly mid-on” and “leg byes”, cricketers and fans alike would struggle to effectively and efficiently communicate. Furthermore, medical professionals require jargon, especially in situations where time is valuable. Medical jargon such as the initialism “ECG” (electrocardiogram), specific semantic meaning of “acute” and the shortening ‘prem’ (premature) allows for brevity and accuracy in high pressure scenarios. However, these terms are not always helpful, and can cause confusion when used for the wrong audience and context. Linguist Baden Eunsen stated that “jargon can go over to the dark side when it is so ‘dense’ that outsiders have difficulty understanding it”. Terori Hareko-Samios experienced this ‘dark side’ of jargon after she was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome and struggled to make light of the complex medical jargon used to explain her condition. Even the initialism used to refer to the syndrome, ‘PCOS’, displays the dense nature of in-group jargon to outsiders. Hareko-Samios reflected on her confusion, stating “it was again that frustration of not being able to access information I could relate to”. Her frustration escalated to the extent where she wrote a pamphlet outlining the illness in plain language for other women. Moreover, research by Dr Mark Siddins revealed that less than 20% of patient forms were written in ‘plain English’, a statistic which Siddins believes displays the shortcomings of medical forms in their informative function. He stated that ‘the use of the technical jargon and acronyms on patient forms is unacceptable”, displaying his frustration at the use of such inappropriate uses of formal language. It is therefore clear to see that while jargon can be extremely beneficial to effective and efficient communication, it is not always helpful when used outside its specific domain.

Euphemisms are similar to jargon in that they can provide a means to uphold social harmony. Euphemisms also provide a basis for politically correct language. Positive euphemisms allow the user to navigate through taboo and avoid offense by using vaguer, milder and more indirect terms, and as Josephine Tovey stated, “for many, gentle words can ease the experience’. For example, the taboo topic of bodily functions was avoided by a tampon ad through use of the initialism ‘LBL’ in the place of ‘light bladder leakage’. This term allowed the advertiser to distance themselves from the awkwardness of the topic, while still communicating effectively and clearly. Another example is how channel 7 commentators referred to footballer Mitch Clark’s depression as a ‘long term battle with personal issues’. The use of a metaphorical post modified prepositional phrase allowed the commentators to avoid directly addressing the sensitive issue of depression, and hence prevent any offense to viewers. Furthermore, euphemisms allow users to remain politically correct by staying in line with what is socially viewed to be acceptable, and shows sensitivity and respect to serious topics such as disability, racism and religion while encouraging an attitude of tolerance and acceptance. An example of such language can be found the Diabetes Victoria Guidelines, which suggest that the politically correct "person with diabetes" should be used in the place of "diabetic". Use of the prepositional phrase "with diabetes" distances the person from their illness, rather than referring to them with the noun "diabetic" which shows a lack of respect and labels them as their disease, and not as a person. Furthermore, by using vague noun phrases such as "the festive season" instead of "Christmas Season" and "Citizens Day" instead of "Australia Day", users can avoid offense and uphold social concordance.

However, it would be incorrect to say that all euphemisms and jargon ensure social harmony and clear meaning, as euphemistic, jargon filled corporate speak has no distinct purpose but to make the user seem more intelligent while doublespeak euphemisms serve only to obfuscate and manipulate. Corporate buzz words like ‘blue sky thinking’, ‘synergy’ and ‘corporate values’ are thrown around offices with no true meaning, and do not contribute to effective communication. This language has even made its way into other domains, which results in widespread confusion and frustration. An example of this is evident in a sign used to direct residents to their local “neighbourhood safer place” in the event of a fire. This unnecessary corporate jargon was made all the more confusing as the sign only displayed the initialism “NSP”. The CFA were criticised by the Royal Commission for their language choice on the sign, being told they should have been more “frank and meaningful”. This statement portrays how unclear formal language can be when used incorrectly. On the other hand, double speak is not language used to show off, but is a malicious avoidance of the truth. By using an extremely specific lexis and long winded, euphemistic sentences, users can avoid honesty, at the cost of quality communication. The West Australian Government used doublespeak to minimise backlash over their planned shark cull by referring to the cull with the dense noun phrase “localised shark mitigation strategy”. The use of a noun phrase and avoidance of the negative connotations of ‘cull’ helped distance the Government from their actions in an attempt to manipulate and hide the truth. Another example of deliberate doublespeak through euphemism is ‘revitalise with redundancies’, a term used by Fairfax Media to refer to sackings. This phrase uses the positive connotations of the verb “revitalise” rather than “sack”, which helps to minimise the negative effects associated with the firings.

While formal language features such as jargon and euphemism undoubtedly contribute to social harmony and understanding when used appropriately, it would be incorrect to claim that formal language features are always helpful. When used in the wrong context, jargon and corporate speak provide no benefit for communication. Doublespeak, on the other hand, only serves to obfuscate and manipulate, and is truly detrimental to any meaning of a discourse. It is to be hoped that formal language features can be used correctly, and only to increase clarity and efficiency of communication and to maintain social harmony.


« Last Edit: May 04, 2015, 09:47:26 pm by odeaa »
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biy

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #198 on: May 16, 2015, 09:52:34 pm »
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Hey guys which year of the exam would be best to practice before a sac? Got mine in two weeks time :3
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cbeaumont97

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #199 on: September 26, 2015, 06:49:21 pm »
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Hey guise, Im new to this, could someone please mark my essay  ;D ;D ;D ;D

These days, we are far more tolerant of taboo language; It no longer has the power to shock or offend. Discuss.

It is often assumed that taboo topics are no longer relevant to contemporary Australian society, as we have seemingly developed to adapt the liberal views of the 21st century, however this is not the case, as the existence of taboos still heavily dictates our language use. To combat the existence of these taboos and to still address them without impacting on social harmony, we employ politically correct language and use euphemisms; this can be seen in many domains such as the workplace. The intolerance of taboo language in contemporary Australian society is also highlighted by the fact that we strike and berate any group that threatens to use this language to denigrate certain groups. Although we consider taboo language to be distasteful, we still use it tactfully to help combat issues in society.

We are heavily intolerant of taboo language at times and are prepared to strike down on groups that use it to intentionally offend. During the 2010 Tri-Nations rugby game, Australian Swimmer Stephanie Rice used the dysphemistic lexeme “faggots” to refer to the South African Rubgy team during a tweet. This caused an immediate uproar within the Australian community who were appalled by her lack of sensitivity to the LGBTI community, Rice then attempted to redact her statement by claiming that it was a case of playful banter, this claim was quickly quashed by the public who were still outraged. This incident helps to shed light into the mind of contemporary society, who felt that Rice went over line with the taboo language, and is evidence that taboo language is still not accepted in society, as it is seem as a threat to breaking our current state of social harmony. This is not an isolated instance of the community breaking out against the public use of taboo language, as another uproar occurred earlier this year when Australia right wing extremists used racist language to denigrate the Islamic community. In this case, the Australian public escalated the matter to a physical one and caused multiple riots speaking out against the extremist groups. The occurrence of these of these riots acted to show that the Australian public is prepared to fight the use of taboo language to signify Australia’s multicultural heritage and that taboo language isn’t considered prestigious in Australian society. Although taboo language isn’t considered overtly prestigious, we often mask it with euphemisms or politically correct language to make it more prestigious.

Our intolerance of taboo topics and language can be seen through the use of euphemism. Many blue collar occupations in Australia can often involve taboos, such as human faeces, these taboos can often be disguised through the use of euphemisms such as ‘biosolid reclaimation’ to refer to the treatment of human excrement. The use of the euphemism helps to address the requirements of the job without causing offence as the act of handling faecal matter is tended to be looked down upon in contemporary Australian society. Furthermore, the use of euphemism shows that we do not tolerate the use of taboos and often hide it in “diplomatic cologne” (Quentin Crisp). This use of politically correct language in occupations can be further extended to gender. Many occupations such as service ones once used different names to refer to different genders in a certain job such as: waiter and waitress, to reduce any offence caused, the gender neutral suffix –person is used. This can be seen in a recent QANTAS job advertisement, where the position of flight attendant was being advertised. The deliberate use of the gender neutral suffix shows that we are not tolerant of using taboo language that discriminates against genders. Taboo language is often tolerated when used tactfully.

Although taboo language is considered as distasteful by society, it is still used in certain contexts where it is deemed appropriate. Public health campaigns need to reach out to their targeted audience, and in some contexts, this can only be achieved through the use of taboo language. This can be seen in the use of profane lexemes and a broad Australian in the TAC’s road safety messages. The combined use of these features enables the TAC to diminish social distance with the audience. Although it is criticized by many as being taboo and tacky, it is considered on a whole as a tactful use of taboo language as it has worked and saved many lives.

In conclusion, taboo language is not accepted and tolerated in society as it threatens social harmony, but this issue is mainly a context based one, as it is still tolerated in various domains, notably, public health.

NOTE: Aiming to get over 35, will that be possible?

odeaa

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #200 on: September 26, 2015, 09:17:09 pm »
+1
Hey guise, Im new to this, could someone please mark my essay  ;D ;D ;D ;D

Here you go

NB: It's my first time marking an essay, and I'm not a high authority in englang so dont take my word as gospel. Your teacher should always be your first port of call

Also, did the prompt have any stimuli with it? If so, it's crucial to include them in your essay

Give me some feedback on my feedback if you can! ahah
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cbeaumont97

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #201 on: September 26, 2015, 09:33:39 pm »
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If you were my teacher I'd get a 50 for sure  :D, Thanks for the clear and concise advice, I'll be sure to work on it!

kiddoes

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #202 on: October 25, 2015, 10:32:08 pm »
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Hey all! Could one of you kind souls mark this essay for me, please? Thank you  :)
(There were no prompts, this was a topic sentence written for me by my teacher a while ago.)

Informality, independence, parochialism and profanity are accurate descriptions of Australian English. Discuss.

Any language variety is defined by the culture that uses it. Australian culture does place a heavy emphasis on the egalitarian side of language - it utilizes slang and profanity to attend to positive face and discuss taboo topics whilst retaining cultural independence from Britain. However, Australian English has and continues to shed the mantle of narrow-minded views, as shown by social scandals and campaigns that threaten a particular group being shunned by wider society. Australian English may be informal and independent, but it does not reflect parochial ideologies.

Australian English’s slang lexicon is widely recognized, and for good reason. Australia’s lexis is largely defined by its informality, and by the acceptability of this informality in a variety of contexts, both situational and cultural. These features of Australian English include diminutives, shortenings and profanity. Shortenings and diminutives allow words to “sound familiar, everyday and common” (Anne Wierzbicka), and their use heightens the informality of a concept or context by reducing social distance between the user and whomever is referenced. This can be a fellow interlocutor (e.g. “Johnno”, “Cookie” for last name ‘Cook’), or someone of a higher status in the context (e.g. “pollie” —> politician), in both cases attending to positive face needs by intimating intimacy between users. The familiarization of these words using suffixation displays the informality common to Australian English. In a similar contextual concept, the use of profanity across domains also displays the Australian penchant for informality. Swearing is utilized to lower social distance between interlocutors and defined the presence of intimacy, such as by someone in a friendship circle calling another a “f•cking nerd” (as is the case in my own circle of peers) as an intimate vocative. Swearing is also used to promote relevance of taboo topics to the wider Australian public, such as in the 2015 national domestic violence campaign featuring slogans such as “she pissed me off so I hit her”. This judicious use of profanity made the ad much less formal and so connected the action of the perpetrator to the Australian lexicon and, thus, the ad to the Australian public as a whole. Informality makes up a large part of Australia’s linguistic culture - it promotes egalitarianism, “mateship” and serves many context-specific purposes in Australia. Thus, “informality” and “profanity” can be said to define Australian English.

Australia establishes its cultural identity through many linguistic methods. The current prevalence of the General Australian accent (as defined on the continuum by Mitchell and Delbridge) is one way that Australians demonstrate a conscious separation of their national identity from Britain’s historical grip. The development of an accent alternative to the British-imposed Cultivated accent in the 1800’s led to the Broad accent, characterized by nasal vowels (e.g. /a/ in “bad”, prevalence of schwa /ǝ/) and diphthongization. However, the negative cultural stereotypes affecting Cultivated (e.g. that of affectation, British —> ‘un-Australian’) began to affect the Broad accent in an opposing way due to its similar extremity in sound (also an ‘affectation’). As a result of these separate cultural cringes, the General accent is the majority accent (~80% of population) employed by Australians. Although its use does not carry the distinctive sound system of the Broad accent, its phonology is still distinct from that of Britain, retaining nasal vowels to a lesser extent and the non-rhoticism of Broad. In this way, Australians are “quite happy to express ourselves using the accent we have” (Felicity Cox), having left behind the “need for extreme sounds” (Peter Moore) whilst still retaining a uniquely Australian accent category. The dropping prevalence of Cultivated (only ~5% of Australian English speakers utilize this accent category) alongside the majority stake of the General accent thus prove the “independence” inherent in Australian English’s phonology.

Australian English is quite inherently casual, due to attitudes towards swearing and the necessity of casuality in order to obey social standards of “fitting in”. However, the casual bent to its lexicon does not reflect parochialism in the language - most features displaying exclusionary ideologies have been removed or are swiftly removed when encountered by the wider Australian public. Cultural context inform a user of what is culturally sensitive and appropriate in the given circumstances. When Australian users attempt to utilize Australian English features in a way that violates taboo semantic fields and politeness principles surrounding them, face is threatened and social cohesion is broken. An example of this is prior PM Tony Abbott’s 2015 remark of “sh*t happens” in response to the news of Australian soldiers dying overseas. Tony Abbott’s usage of informal Australian slang phrase “shit happens” gave the death of the soliders no weight and, thus, no respect. This was not a culturally sensitive remark as Australia’s culture and history often glorifies and mythologizes the military, and not to acknowledge this cultural idea was in violation of the majority of the public’s beliefs. Similarly, when Professor Barry Spurr utilized Australian derogatory vocatives “Mussies” and “chinky-poos” in 2014-15 email correspondences, public backlash forced his University to suspend him. The violation of authority position by utilizing a formal, professional channel to employ slurs offended the face needs of a multiculturalism-valuing Australian public. Although nothing is taboo “for all people, under all circumstances, all of the time”  (Kate Burridge), there are semantic fields and cultural contexts that have to be considered by Australian interlocutors to avoid negating social harmony. The presence of these social backlashes to linguistic violations demonstrates Australia’s growth out of “parochialism”.

Australian English, like any language variety, cannot be easily defined in a few simple adjectives. However, it can be stated that Australian English displays features of a hypocoristic, informal language, has unique sound systems, and displays modern views on what is and is not socially acceptable in a given context. Australian English is sometimes informal, sometimes profane, always independent, and only parochial through individual mouths.
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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #203 on: July 24, 2016, 01:51:46 pm »
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Hi :) Could someone please mark this essay for me?
Thanks in advance!

‘Australians must consistently balance their pride in the distinctiveness of their language with the cultural cringe that accompanies it.’

Australians have always been a proud people and an aspect of their laid-back identity goes hand in hand with the way they use their language. However, accompanying this is the long history of the discrimination of Australian speakers, their accent being marked as undesirable which gave rise to programs such as elocution classes. However, as time moved on, attitudes towards Australian English have change, more and more people becoming proud of their origins. Characteristics of the Australian English dialect are its distinctiveness and individuality in comparison to other dialects of the English language, the pride that the users carry but also the cultural cringe surrounding it.
There has always been a certain distinctiveness that accompanies the Australian English accent and dialect. The features that are to be explored are taken from the Broad and General Australians accents, the Cultivated being much more like the British Received Pronunciation (RP). The Australian accent is considered to be a ‘lazy accent’ and it’s mostly in the pronunciation of vowel phonemes. The assimilation of many vowel sounds into the schwa is evident, (‘good day’ being pronounced as /gƏdæj/) and this is due to the lack of movement of the tongue, being described as ‘lying over an exercise ball’ (Rachel Griffiths) and the lowering and relaxation of the soft palate. The Australian accent is also non-rhotic, the /r/ phoneme only being pronounced if a consonant sound comes after it. This feature of the language landed Australian politician Julia Gillard in hot water after introducing then Prime Minister Tony Abbot as /mIstƏbɅt/. A distinctive feature of Australian English is the formation of diminutives such as ‘truckie’, word of the year 2013 ‘Selfie’ and ‘cuppa’. Once, these features of Australian English were frowned upon in a period in history called the cultural cringe.
‘The commonest general (and rather sweeping) criticisms of Australian speech are: (a) it’s ugly; (b) I’s lazy and slovenly; (c) it’s nasal;…’ This quote from Arthur Mitchell in 1945 sums up the movement called the ‘cultural cringe’. The Cultural Cringe was a time in history were the Australian English dialect and accent were frowned upon by society and lasted until the 1950’s. A program introduced to ‘correct’ this flaw was elocution classes in which students would learn to pronounce words in RP, the accent of Britain. Up until the 1960’s, the radio presenters spoke with a British accent because the Australian accent was considered too harsh and undesirable, Australian icon Banjo Patterson even being turned down from being a radio presenter because of his accent. There was definitely a stigma attached to the Broad Australian accent as it was closely associated with the education of an individual, those who were well educated typically having the cultivated accent that was achieved through strict elocution lessons. The cultural revolution occurred in the 1960’s and 70’s in which the stigma surrounding the Australian accent diminished. Along with this change in ideals came the codification of Australian English with the first Australian governor general appointed in 1965, the introduction of radio presenters with Australian accents appearing in 1980 and the construction of the first Australian English dictionary in 1981. Although this Cultural Revolution did occur, there are still certain stigmas that are attached to the Broad accent. This had given rise to more people using the General Australian accent, an accent that avoids the stigma surrounding the Broad accent but still portrays their Australian identity. A distinctive characteristic of the Australian people is the fact that they are proud of their origins.
After the Cultural Revolution, more and more people began being proud of their origins and further display this through their accent. Shortly after this period in time, there was an exponential increase in the amount of songs and film that celebrated and embraced the Australian identity. Some of these songs include ‘Down Under’ by Men at Work and ‘Still call Australia home’ by Peter Allen both songs were released in the 1980’s. In recent times, there has been a boost in Australian films that have been created such as ‘Australia’ (2008) and ‘Red Dog’ (2011) in which the actors (mostly Australian actors) used their native accent. Although there has been an increase in pride, there has also been a decrease in people using Australian diminutives (according to research conducted by Macquarie University). Not to fear, because this isn’t a sign that the Australian accent and dialect is diminishing due to foreign influences, it is just changing. There are less people using quintessentially Australian lexemes such as ‘strewth’ and ‘flamin’ mongrel’ being used as Tony Thorne, author of the ‘Dictionary of Contemporary Slang’ has said. But this doesn’t mean that the Australian English dialect is dying out, it is simply adopting slang terminology from Britain and the US and evolving. Cate Blanchett is a contemporary example of an actor that speaks in an Australian accent and is proud to use it. In her Oscar’s acceptance speech that took place in 2014, she speaks in her native general Australian accent and also talks about her pride of being an Australian.
Long sought after pride after a period of time when the Australian accent was deemed ‘undesirable’ is something that Australians couple with making an identity for themselves in the distinctiveness of their accent.

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #204 on: July 24, 2016, 05:16:33 pm »
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Hi karlarajic,
Night before uni starts so I was feeling generous :P. I've marked your essay and given it a mark /15, although I wouldn't take the marking seriously (both because you're only starting, and also because Englang isn't my strong point so I'm probably far from accurate).

Good try! Keep it up and you'll improve very quickly I'm sure.

The main thing that stood out was that you needed to include analysis of your examples and relate them to the prompt.
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karlarajic

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #205 on: July 25, 2016, 05:29:47 pm »
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Thank you so much for the very quick turn around!

karlarajic

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #206 on: July 28, 2016, 09:38:07 pm »
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Hi, this is my third English Language 3/4 Essay. Could someone please mark this ASAP. My SAC is on MOnday and I'd like to see how i'm fairing :)

Australian English is distinctive from other varieties of English in a couple of ways. Discuss.
Australian English is a distinctive variety of the English language. It has a lot of colourful lexis adopted from other languages, a feature which makes it very distinctive. As well as this, Australian English is very distinctive in the ways of accent and phonology, the pronunciation of certain phonemes creating the very original sounding language. As well as this, certain ethnolects such as Aboriginal English derive from Australian English which makes it very distinctive variety.
The Standard forms of Englishes around the world are very much homogenous. A study conducted by world-renowned linguist David Crystal in which he collected newspapers from English speaking countries and compared them proves that this is true. However, there are lexical differences that are present in the Australian English standard, words that are codified but not used in other English speaking countries. Some examples of these words include ‘footpath’ for the American ‘sidewalk’ and British ‘pavement’, the Australian ‘highway’ for the American ‘interstate’ and ‘capsicum’ for ‘pepper’ or ‘bell pepper’. Another feature that makes the Australian Standard different to its international counterparts is the use of codified Aboriginal lexis. Some instances of the use of this lexis includes ‘billabong’ and collocated phrases such as ‘out in the mulga’. Whereas other national varieties may have adopted phrases and lexis from their aboriginal counterparts, the use of the Australian indigenous lexis makes the Standard Australian lexis especially different. This being said, non-standard features produce much more distinctiveness compared to the Standard.
It is known that the Australian accent differs amongst different social and regional groups within the country itself. The Australian Accent is measured on a continuum which includes (with a famous example) the Cultivated (Malcom Turnbull), General (Hugh Jackman), Broad (Pauline Hanson) and the Ethnic Broad (Bernard Tomic). An example of this is the distinctiveness between the rural and urban speakers, the farther inland you travel, the more non-standard phonological features would be used. An example of this are the phonological characteristics of the Broad Australian accent to be slower, have a farther distance between the start and endpoints of diphthongal sounds and the /t/ phoneme to be pronounced as a /d/ or is ‘flapped’. An example of someone in the public arena to use the Broad Accent proudly is politician Julia Gillard, who is also often criticised for her accent.
There are also dialectal features that are distinctive of the Australian variety. Some include non-standard grammatical features such as the use of exclusively Australian colloquialisms and lexis such as ‘Aussie salute’ for the brushing away of flies with the hand and ‘wet blanket’ for someone who dampens a good time or mood. These lexemes are also reflective of such Australian values as laconicness and anti-authoritarianism. There is also a morphological feature used solely by Australians and that is the use and creation of diminutives. Diminutives typically have an ‘-o’ or ‘-ie’ ending, such as ‘truckie’ or ‘servo’ but some diminutives have ‘-a’ endings such as ‘cuppa’. This shortening of words factors in the anti-intellectualism of the Australian people, as well as their laid-back and laconic nature. Grammatical features distinctive of non-standard Australian dialects include the use of double negatives (‘I never said nothing’), the use of ‘don’t’ in place of ‘doesn’t’ (‘ ‘E don’t run away with it, you see?’) and the sentence-final hedging ‘but’ (‘He’s a bit of a bastard but’).  These features are typically utilised in the non-standard varities of Australian English and make this variety distinctive.
Aboriginal English is a distinctive ethnolect which is a product of the fusion of English and influences from the traditional Aboriginal languages. Aboriginal English began as pidgins which are simple languages made up of the content words of the socially dominant class (English) and the function words of the socially submissive language (the Aboriginal languages). Aboriginal English is spoken by many as an L1 and is used as a lingua franca between speakers of different Aboriginal languages. The Aboriginal English accent can vary from ‘light’ (close to General Australian) to ‘heavy’ (close to the sound of traditional Aboriginal languages) but most Aboriginal English speakers can adjust their speech along the accent continuum to suit their audience and situation.  Some striking non-standard characteristics of the Aboriginal English dialect that make it distinctive include the frequent absence of plural morphemes and sometimes, the double marking of plurals (‘Here come the childrens’). A common syntactic feature is the ellipsis of function words and the use of present tense lexemes where the past tense would usually be used. A phonological feature of Aboriginal English is the tendency to not distinguish between voiced and unvoiced consonants, an example being the pronunciation of ‘pub’ as /pƏp/. Just as with any ethnolect, speakers will often code-switch and use lexemes from their language other than English. Some examples of these words that often find their way into Aboriginal English are ‘yakka’ meaning ‘work’ and ‘gubba’ meaning ‘white man’. These features that are different to the standard form of Australian English make this a variety that is very distinctive.
The Australian English is very distinctive to other international counterparts. The use of original codified lexis, colourful non-standard dialect, a unique and distinctive accent and borrowings from ethnolects including Aboriginal English add to the rich tapestry of the language.

Thanks so much!

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #207 on: July 30, 2016, 04:09:47 pm »
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Hey Guys, this is my first time writing an essay. Can you guys please give me feedback and btw don't hold back as long as its constructive criticism.
Thanks Your help will be appreciated greatly.

Topic: - Nonstandard forms of English have intrinsic social significance, Discuss   

P;s Essay is not finished only half done, just wanted to get an idea on how to write one

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #208 on: July 30, 2016, 06:37:27 pm »
+1
Hi, this is my third English Language 3/4 Essay. Could someone please mark this ASAP. My SAC is on MOnday and I'd like to see how i'm fairing :)

Australian English is distinctive from other varieties of English in a couple of ways. Discuss.
Australian English is a distinctive variety of the English language. It has a lot of colourful lexis adopted from other languages, a feature which makes it very distinctive. As well as this, Australian English is very distinctive in the ways of accent and phonology, the pronunciation of certain phonemes creating the very original sounding language. As well as this, certain ethnolects such as Aboriginal English derive from Australian English which makes it very distinctive variety.
The Standard forms of Englishes around the world are very much homogenous. A study conducted by world-renowned linguist David Crystal in which he collected newspapers from English speaking countries and compared them proves that this is true. However, there are lexical differences that are present in the Australian English standard, words that are codified but not used in other English speaking countries. Some examples of these words include ‘footpath’ for the American ‘sidewalk’ and British ‘pavement’, the Australian ‘highway’ for the American ‘interstate’ and ‘capsicum’ for ‘pepper’ or ‘bell pepper’. Another feature that makes the Australian Standard different to its international counterparts is the use of codified Aboriginal lexis. Some instances of the use of this lexis includes ‘billabong’ and collocated phrases such as ‘out in the mulga’. Whereas other national varieties may have adopted phrases and lexis from their aboriginal counterparts, the use of the Australian indigenous lexis makes the Standard Australian lexis especially different. This being said, non-standard features produce much more distinctiveness compared to the Standard.
It is known that the Australian accent differs amongst different social and regional groups within the country itself. The Australian Accent is measured on a continuum which includes (with a famous example) the Cultivated (Malcom Turnbull), General (Hugh Jackman), Broad (Pauline Hanson) and the Ethnic Broad (Bernard Tomic). An example of this is the distinctiveness between the rural and urban speakers, the farther inland you travel, the more non-standard phonological features would be used. An example of this are the phonological characteristics of the Broad Australian accent to be slower, have a farther distance between the start and endpoints of diphthongal sounds and the /t/ phoneme to be pronounced as a /d/ or is ‘flapped’. An example of someone in the public arena to use the Broad Accent proudly is politician Julia Gillard, who is also often criticised for her accent.
There are also dialectal features that are distinctive of the Australian variety. Some include non-standard grammatical features such as the use of exclusively Australian colloquialisms and lexis such as ‘Aussie salute’ for the brushing away of flies with the hand and ‘wet blanket’ for someone who dampens a good time or mood. These lexemes are also reflective of such Australian values as laconicness and anti-authoritarianism. There is also a morphological feature used solely by Australians and that is the use and creation of diminutives. Diminutives typically have an ‘-o’ or ‘-ie’ ending, such as ‘truckie’ or ‘servo’ but some diminutives have ‘-a’ endings such as ‘cuppa’. This shortening of words factors in the anti-intellectualism of the Australian people, as well as their laid-back and laconic nature. Grammatical features distinctive of non-standard Australian dialects include the use of double negatives (‘I never said nothing’), the use of ‘don’t’ in place of ‘doesn’t’ (‘ ‘E don’t run away with it, you see?’) and the sentence-final hedging ‘but’ (‘He’s a bit of a bastard but’).  These features are typically utilised in the non-standard varities of Australian English and make this variety distinctive.
Aboriginal English is a distinctive ethnolect which is a product of the fusion of English and influences from the traditional Aboriginal languages. Aboriginal English began as pidgins which are simple languages made up of the content words of the socially dominant class (English) and the function words of the socially submissive language (the Aboriginal languages). Aboriginal English is spoken by many as an L1 and is used as a lingua franca between speakers of different Aboriginal languages. The Aboriginal English accent can vary from ‘light’ (close to General Australian) to ‘heavy’ (close to the sound of traditional Aboriginal languages) but most Aboriginal English speakers can adjust their speech along the accent continuum to suit their audience and situation.  Some striking non-standard characteristics of the Aboriginal English dialect that make it distinctive include the frequent absence of plural morphemes and sometimes, the double marking of plurals (‘Here come the childrens’). A common syntactic feature is the ellipsis of function words and the use of present tense lexemes where the past tense would usually be used. A phonological feature of Aboriginal English is the tendency to not distinguish between voiced and unvoiced consonants, an example being the pronunciation of ‘pub’ as /pƏp/. Just as with any ethnolect, speakers will often code-switch and use lexemes from their language other than English. Some examples of these words that often find their way into Aboriginal English are ‘yakka’ meaning ‘work’ and ‘gubba’ meaning ‘white man’. These features that are different to the standard form of Australian English make this a variety that is very distinctive.
The Australian English is very distinctive to other international counterparts. The use of original codified lexis, colourful non-standard dialect, a unique and distinctive accent and borrowings from ethnolects including Aboriginal English add to the rich tapestry of the language.

Thanks so much!

Hi, took a look through your essay and made a few comments. Like your last one, it lacks quite a bit of analysis (although good work on what analysis was included!). A major point you could have included (i.e. half the essay could have been on this) was the implications and relationship of linguistic variation to identity.

All the best with your SAC! :)
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thaliak

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Re: English Language essay submission and marking
« Reply #209 on: August 15, 2016, 05:32:20 pm »
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Hi, this is one of my practice essays for the Australian English area of study. My SAC is this week, please let me know what you think, thanks :)

“Language is a road map of a culture. It tells you where its people have come from and where they are going.” How does this apply to Australian English?

Former Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, once said “nothing unites a country more than its common language because from a language comes a history and a culture.” Australian English has developed into one of the most multiculturally influenced languages in the world. This is as a result of the origins of Australian English and the many paths it has crossed with other nationalities. As well as this, the state of Australian English in the present day can determine what the language is likely to evolve into. The significant impact of the internet as well as the migration of several nationalities is promising a more globalised Australian English. Overall, the cultural identity reflected in Australian English demonstrates the origins of the English variety as well as the likelihood of where it is headed.

The history of Australian English has influenced the way Australian English exists today. The uniqueness of the Australian accent was initially created by the children who arrived on the First Fleet. This was called a ‘Foundation Accent’, which paved the way from the Australian accent to develop. The Australian gold rush that began in 1852 allowed Australian English to interact with several different nationalities in a way it never had before. Within this year, roughly 370,000 immigrants arrived in Australia, mainly from France, Italy, America, Hungary, and most prominently, China. In addition to this, many Australian slang terms were created during the gold rush, such as “drop on it” (meaning to come upon gold) and “new chum” (a novice digger). Furthermore, once Federation began in 1901, the White Australia Policy came into place. This was a policy that stated that non-European immigrants were not allowed to migrate into Australia. Although this excluded several continents, many European migrations still occurred, most prominently from Germany, Greece and Italy. This slowly begun the development of ethnolects in Australia as these non-English speaking cultures segregated themselves from the English speaking individuals to explore their common grounds with one another, in suburbs such as Grovedale, Oakleigh. Moreover, the increasing need for Australians to validate themselves in the global scale created the desire to admire the British culture and thus speak with highly cultivated accents. This is what is known now as the ‘cultural cringe’, which caused the majority of the Australian population, as well as the rest of the world, to perceive their accent as a “lazy accent” and thus adopt the methods of the British accent. This resulted in elocution classes taking place in primary schools, so children could develop cultivated accents rather than general or broad accents. During 1968-1972, the ‘cultural revolution’ begun, which taught Australians to embrace their unique accent and create their own national identity, instead of following in the steps of the British. This may have been heavily influenced by the leader of the Labor Party at the time, Gough Whitlam, who was one of the first Australian members of Parliament, and later Prime Ministers, to promote a general Australian accent. As well as this, Whitlam also transformed the rights of Indigenous Australians, such as allowing them to reclaim their native land. This also developed the Aboriginal English ethnolect that was previously disregarded and mistreated by non-Indigenous Australians. Overall, the events that occurred in Australian history has contributed to the present state of Australian English

The stature of Australian English presently is as a result of its past, and can be used to determine the future of the language. Australia, as explored by Dr Patricia Edgar, is “developing a complex and diverse multicultural society that is a unique social experiment in the world.” This is evident in the several ethnolects and presence of bilingualism in this country. Also reported by Dr Patricia Edgar, “around three million Australians speak a language other than English at home.”, which clearly demonstrates the effect immigration has had on our country. As well as this, a high majority of primary and secondary schools in Australia teach a language other than English as part of their curriculums. This demonstrates a crossing of paths between Australian English and several other languages, showing that the English variety is vulnerable to being influenced by other languages. Moreover, Australian slang has become a prominent part of the daily vocabulary of an Australian. This includes unique lexemes, such as “stoked” (to mean pleased) and “piece of piss” (to mean easy). In addition to this, diminutives are a major element of the Australian identity, as shown in examples such as “arvo” and “brekkie”, which are truncated versions of lexemes used in everyday vocabulary in several cultures around the world. Diminutives are embraced by Australians, as made evident in the Vodaphone television advertisement “know where to go before the cabbie does”. This resembles the laid-back attitude Australians hold, as well as the strong association Australian English has with diminutives. This can be proven through the origin of the globally-used diminutive “selfie” which originated on Australian internet forum post in 2002. This also highlights the influence of technology and the internet on Australian English. Furthermore, Australian English demonstrates the history of the Australian culture as well as the future of it.

With the increasing prevalence of technology, the internet and multiculturalism in Australia, the future of Australian English is likely to be one that is very globalised. This can be seen as a negative transformation, as explored by BBC broadcaster John Humphrys with “texters savage out sentences, pillage our punctuation and rape our vocabulary.” This refers to the non-standard language features of technology, such as acronyms/initialisms “lol” (laugh out loud) and “atm” (at the moment), which are used all around the world, including Australia. These features are viewed as informal and are frequently used in Australian culture. As well as this, technology has resulted in neologisms in Australian culture, as made evident in “taking a selfie” and “do you want to uber there?”. Yet again, these features of language are not unique to Australian English, but still occur within the language, demonstrating the growing globalisation of the English variety. Additionally, the growing multiculturalism in Australia, as well as the continuous demand for English to be spoken, is resulting in many new lexemes being borrowed from other languages and being commonly used in Australian English. A recent example of this is the “halal snack pack”, which is borrowed from Arabic. This exemplifies how Australian English is evolving and growing due to the interactions it has with other languages and cultures. Overall, the influence of modern technology and multiculturalism is shaping Australia to become a globalised society, and thus a globalised variety of English.

Ultimately, Australian English demonstrates the heritage of the nation as well as where it is heading. Through key events in history, Australian English has developed into the English variety it is today. As well as this, the features of Australian English presently can help us to predict the future of the language. Overall, the past and the new realms of the Australian culture is reflected in its language.
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